(LifeSiteNews) — Former President Donald Trump reiterated his belief that Catholics in the U.S. are being targeted by Joe Biden.
Trump delivered the keynote address at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s “2024 Road to Majority” conference on Saturday in Washington D.C. Several potential vice presidential running mates spoke at the event as well, including Dr. Ben Carson, Tulsi Gabbard, and U.S. Congresswoman Elise Stefanik.
Trump’s speech hit on several topics he has mentioned before.
“The radical left will always come after religious believers … because they know that our allegiance is not to them … our allegiance is to our country and our allegiance is to our Creator,” he said.
Trump also told his audience, most of whom were Evangelicals, that he was concerned with the Biden regime’s attacks on Catholics.
“And I don’t know, it’s a little bit less to do with this room, but we all care. What’s going on with Catholics?” he asked. “They are being persecuted … by (Joe Biden). This man that has no idea what the hell is happening.”
While it is unclear what exactly Trump was referring to, as noted by Catholic News Agency, he previously told Fox News’ Sean Hannity, a former Catholic, that Biden “weaponized the FBI and the DOJ to go get his political opponents.”
The outlet also recalled that Trump has already stated Biden has been “going violently and viciously after Catholics” by “sending undercover spies” and sending “SWAT teams to arrest pro-life activists.”
As reported by LifeSite in February 2023, the FBI was caught monitoring Catholics who attend Latin Mass churches across the U.S. under the claim that “white nationalist” ideology was spreading in their communities. Traditional Catholic groups like the Society of St. Pius X, the Fraternal Society of St. Peter, and the Society of St. Pius V were all targeted.
The GOP-controlled House of Representatives was so appalled by the FBI’s behavior that Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio, held multiple hearings on it, only for the agency to be shockingly exonerated by the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) in spring 2024.
LifeSite also extensively reported on pro-life Catholic father of seven Mark Houck having his Pennsylvania home raided by dozens of federal agents with guns drawn in 2022, traumatizing his children. Houck filed a lawsuit against the DOJ last month for $4.3 million, citing “malicious” and “retaliatory” prosecution.
In his remarks Saturday, Trump praised the state of Louisiana for mandating the Ten Commandments in classrooms. He also reiterated his plan to help those who have been jailed by the Biden administration.
“We will rapidly review the cases of every political prisoner who is unjustly victimized by the Biden regime so we can get them out of the gulag and back to their families where they belong,” he said.
Trump singled out 75-year-old pro-life activist Paula Harlow, who was sentenced to 24 months in jail recently for blocking access to a late-term abortion facility in the nation’s capital in 2020. She had been found guilty in November 2023 on charges of “conspiracy against rights” and violation of the FACE Act for her involvement in a peaceful pro-life rescue conducted at an infamous late-term abortion center in October 2020. A devout Catholic, she was forbidden during the trial from attending Mass while under house arrest despite her direct request to the judge while in court. Paula, “hold on,” because “we’re going to get you out of there,” Trump said.
Trump also reminded his audience that he intends to create a task force that will combat anti-Christian bias. “Americans of faith are not a threat to our country. Americans of faith are the soul of our country,” he said. “One of the reasons we have so much crime, one of the reasons we have so much crime is you don’t have the faith.”